Celtic star's World Cup qualifying withdrawal reasons revealed

Daizen Maeda will not link up with Japan on international duty ‘due to poor conditions’, his national association has confirmed.

Celtic's Daizen Maeda has scored six times since his January transfer - including away at Livingston and the weekend win over Ross County. (Photo by Paul Devlin / SNS Group)

Along with Celtic team-mate Reo Hatate, the forward was called into the Samurai Blue squad for crucial World Cup qualifiers against Vietnam and Australia, but only the midfielder will travel.

Maeda’s absence has been attributed to ‘poor conditions’ by his homeland FA.

The forward was included in the previous national team squad and made a quick getaway to return to Glasgow and featured off the bench in the Old Firm win over Rangers last month.

Since then he has played 855 minutes over 11 games including at the weekend when he scored in the 4-0 win over Ross County.

However Maeda will now be out of action for at least a fortnight with Celtic’s next scheduled match after the international break the Old Firm against Rangers at Ibrox on April 3.

A statement from Japan’s FA confirmed his reasons for omission and said: “Daizen Maeda (Celtic) will not participate in Samurai Blue, which is working toward the final Asian qualifying round (Road to Qatar) on March 24th (Thursday) and 29th (Tuesday), 2022, due to poor conditions. There are no plans to convene a player to replace Maeda.”

Kyogo Furuhashi will also miss out on a call-up after his recent injury struggles though Celtic have been boosted by the forward claiming to be nearing fitness and a return to Ange Postecoglou’s team.

Midfielder Hatate was not selected for the internationals at the end of January but does travel this month.

Japan play the Socceroos on March 24 and Vietnam five days later.

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